Here, you are urged and encouraged to run your mouths about something important.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Romney told Obama to support Individual Mandate... in 2009

One of the biggest red flags here is the fact that Mitt Romney's 2009 Op-ed for the USA Today is now unavailable, except for approximately the first half of it on the Wayback Machine internet archive. Thanks to Buzzfeed, we now have access to it and it ain't kind to Governor Romney's current position about Obamacare being unconstitutional. The piece was practically written as an advice column to Barack Obama.

That advice?

Well, embrace the most unconstitutional part of Obamacare; embrace the individual mandate.

Our experience also demonstrates that getting every citizen insured doesn't have to break the bank. First, we established incentives for those who were uninsured to buy insurance. Using tax penalties, as we did, or tax credits, as others have proposed, encourages "free riders" to take responsibility for themselves rather than pass their medical costs on to others. This doesn't cost the government a single dollar. Second, we helped pay for our new program by ending an old one — something government should do more often. The federal government sends an estimated $42 billion to hospitals that care for the poor: Use those funds instead to help the poor buy private insurance, as we did.

Again, the single most defining issue of Barack Obama's agenda in his first term was Obamacare. Romney's debate quiver will be out of arrows on this issue. Not only was his state's health care plan the blueprint for Obamacare but whenever the issue comes up, Obama will be able to snarkily say, "Tell me again, Mitt, why is my health care law unconstitutional?" Regardless of Mitt's answer, Obama can whip out the aforementioned paragraph each time Romney attempts to say it's unconstitutional. If Mitt stands by the position, Obama will be able to assert that Romneycare is unconstitutional, save for the tenth amendment argument.

Even then, Romney advocated Obama go against the Constitution... in 2009 (assuming his position now is that Obamacare is unconstitutional).

As the proverbial cherry on top, check out this montage of Mitt Romney over the last few years. Stick with it though and take note of how he says during a 2008 campaign debate that he supports mandates. Then candidate Fred Thompson calls Romney on it and said, "I didn't think you'd admit that."